A fearless South Tyneside soldier is flying high today – after making a royal appointment with Prince Harry to take to the skies in a Spitfire to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.
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The flyby event was done in remembrance of those who fought in the historic Battle of Britain in 1940.
And he wanted to ensure that a former para and an RAF corporal who won places on a Spitfire scholarship training programme were also still able to take part in the display.
Prince Harry had been due to join the flypast, however his Spitfire became “unserviceable” at the last moment.
The “orange” section of the flypast is heading to Bentwaters airfield.
And Royston Smith, Tory MP for Southampton Itchen, criticised the decision not to fly over Southampton – home of the Spitfire.
“The formation that flew today had veterans and the most senior was Wing Commander Tom Neil, he fought from North Weald in the Battle of Britain“.
Spitfires, Hurricanes and Blenheims from across Europe, the United Kingdom and USA took part in the display.
Talking at the event the Prince explained, “we always had this idea of trying to create opportunities for ex-servicemen or wounded servicemen…to give them the chance to basically get their lives back on track”.
About 544 personnel from Fighter Command died during the Battle of Britain in 1940 as Hitler’s Luftwaffe was repelled.
SIX Second World War aircraft flew over RAF Benson yesterday afternoon to mark Battle of Britain Day.
The hotly anticipated arrival of 40 iconic war planes soaring directly over Chelmsford has been delayed until 2pm because of poor weather conditions.
The prince told reporters he was “unbelievably fortunate and lucky” to spend his birthday at the flypast event, The Mirror reported.
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Another Twitter user, Lis, joked: “Pressing question of the day: Does Prince Harry’s beard have a twitter account yet?”
